North is up in this
image. The Open Cluster NGC 2420 is central in this image. This clusters span,
based on its distance, is about 30 light years. There are over 1,000 stars
packed into this smallish space. It is also rich in chemical elements; it
is also about 3,000 light years above the Milky Way Galactic disk. It is unusual
for a star cluster in this location of the galaxy be so rich in chemical
elements. NGC 2420 is also relatively young - at about 1.7 billion years (about
a third the age of the sun). Also in this field are some noticeable background
galaxies including an interacting pair (PGC021441 and PGC021435) at about 400
million light years distant. The Cluster NGC 2420 is about 10 thousand light
years distant. These objects and some of the bright stars are identified
in the annotated image.
This image replaces an earlier image that can be seen in the archives
here. Horizontal FOV is 85'